Garowe Online (Garowe)
24 July 2008
There are growing tensions in the northern Somali port city of Berbera between the local Somaliland administration and livestock traders, who have opposed the administration's economic deal with a wealthy Saudi Arabian businessman.
The news Website Somaliland.org reports that traders have brought thousands of livestock to Berbera for export to the Middle East in recent days.
But the Somaliland administration has deployed extra troops and armored vehicles in Berbera, especially at the port and around facilities holding the more than 9,000 livestock, according to Somaliland.org.
In 2007, Somaliland leader Dahir Riyale inked a controversial agreement with al Jabberi, giving the Saudi company exclusive export rights to the region's livestock.
The administration recently put a halt to livestock being exported by local traders via Berbera port, angering the Somaliland Livestock Traders Union.
The union's chairman, Abdullahi Mohamed Abdirahman, has been in the custody of Somaliland police since Sunday and local authorities have not formally charged him yet.
The separatist republic of Somaliland, in northwest Somalia, has its own government, currency and flag and has been self-governing since 1991.
However, the breakaway region has not been recognized internationally.
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